#I think I'm gonna animate each part individually

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 1, day 3

Colored all the lined animation for the back arm and extended the placeholder frames for everything else just so I can get a general idea of how it's all gonna work together once I start animating the every other part of her. Plus some more behind-the-scenes cleaning up that will make things easier for me in the future again :) I think I've gotten everything prepped so I can just focus on drawing and coloring from here on

[illusioncanthurtme--art]

This may be a silly question… but I’m an artist trying to learn backgrounds. I’ve studied perspective until my hands fell off, but I don’t know how to choose an angle or not make things look wonky. I’ve tried asking a lot of artists, but I’m hoping to hear more than “just draw backgrounds”, because I have been, but I’m not improving.

Do you have any tips on how to practice?

The anonymous ask is much more recent but it reminded me of another ask from @cerealssoggies i forgot to answer thats, OOF... gotten old. Sorry about that. I'll answer your ask more directly at the end of this.

I'll talk about the perspective ask first. Anon... I'll answer your question as best as I can!

I think what makes perspective tricky is the beginning, when you're using perspective lines and grids and such to map out the picture. Because the actual technique of 2 point perspective isn't hard or complicated, it's getting the scene to look the way it does in your head thats tricky. I'm talking about the metaphorical "camera" location, angle, and... idk, focal length? If I'm using that phrase correctly.

So you can draw something like a simple square bedroom, and by the time you're done placing your horizon line, vanishing point, and perspective lines, and actually start drawing, you realize it doesn't look like how it does in your head. And from there, it's hard or nearly impossible to move things around to look like your vision, so you'll be tweaking each thing individually: uhh, let's move the horizon line down, the left vanishing point further? The right one closer? Both further? Huh??? And it's frustrating.

I've found, if you're drawing an environment from your imagination, the best way to start is to draw an teeeeny tiny thumbnail sketch. The smaller the better. Not just environments, but any drawing idea is easier to map out when it's smaller. Your brain can latch onto the visual as a whole when it's all tiny on a piece of paper.

Drawing my current blog header, the one of ford's research tent, I had a similar pickle. I knew exactly where I wanted the camera to be, in the corner of the tent, and I knew I wanted the camera to be more wide, so you could see most of his tent while keeping the feeling that it's small. I started digitally with perspective lines and quickly got frustrated. SO - I took to my sketchbook and thought reeeeeally hard about what it looked like in my head, and tried mapping it out in a tiny tiny thumbnail. Here's what that looked like:

This was closer to what I wanted than what I first had on my computer. I knew from there that I wanted the furniture items to be closer together and the camera higher (you can see my scribble writing saying this), so I scanned my thumbnail, and drew on top of it to get closer to the vision. Then, from there, I was able to add a proper perspective grid based on what I had already drawn.

THEN you can finally get down to the fun part - actually populating your room with furniture and details. I put this sketch on paper and did most of the real drawing traditionally:

In summary: instead of jumping straight into perspective theory, thumbnail the idea as rough as you can. Then base the angles of the perspective lines on your thumbnail.

But.... even still, I don't have the strongest ability to picture things mentally, and not everyone is gonna be able to do that (although it is a good muscle to exercise.) Sort of a segue into the second ask - those backgrounds of dibs car? I straight up traced over pictures I took of my car. I'm not the biggest advocate for tracing, it does kind of feel like cheating, BUT for the purposes of this animation? There's no point in getting on a high horse. I needed to draw his car like 10 times and there was no reason to torture myself. I did photoshop some of the photos before I drew over them because the focal length made the car look bigger than I wanted it to? And a lot of it was guessing what the car looked like behind the front seats, etc.

But this does remind me of an exercise I did in school for an illustration mentorship class. The mentor for one unit was a set designer working for Netflix. She was given photos of a room that a scene would be shot in, and she drew the set on top of it: like furniture, decorations, etc. So my assignment was to choose a stock photo, and do some world building concept art based on the photo. From the photo, you can figure out the perspective by identifying lines/angles that theoretically lead to a vanishing point. You need at least two lines, and you extend them really far and see where they cross. Where they meet is a vanishing point. Find two vanishing points and they are level with the horizon line. Then use the perspective dots you just found to draw furniture, items, and you can even get creative and change the shape/height/size of the rooms/buildings/etc, while still using the same perspective.

If an image from the internet feels too much like cheating (it SHOULDN'T, you'll only learn from it and your drawing won't look anything like the image by the time you're done), you can always take your own photos. This technique is honestly what made me enjoy drawing backgrounds in the first place. It made it fun! And drawing should be fun.

I still do this sort of thing today. Here's the reference picture I had my sister take of me for my Fairy godmother illustration. (This is from a couple years ago.) I drew on top of it in photoshop to get my best guess as to the lines and angles. I didn't trace this one, but I did use it very heavily for reference!

So I guess... to summarize both techniques, don't jump right into perspective. Best way to start, that's fun and not wildly frustrating, is to use a photo. If your vision is hyper specific, start from a tiny thumbnail and work your way up. Then the fun part!! Populating the scene with furniture and items and fun little details.

To answer @cerealssoggies question more directly: omg, thank you?? :O💞 I'm always so wowed when people talk about my prints and where they put them. I'm really glad you like the fairy godmother one! My mom also has one hung up in her room lol!

My advice on the design front isn't as specific, because that always felt like the easy part. Once you have the room or whatever mapped out, it's just about drawing all the Stuff. Which for me usually means getting in the head of the character and asking myself what sort of things they'd have around themselves and their environment. And obviously if the setting isn't a characters room/personal environment like the previous three examples, then you'd just have to think about what the environments purpose is, and what sort of stuff would be there. When I'm thinking about a background before I draw it, I'll ask myself what items or features it will have. For the ford tent, I made a list of all the stuff I thought he might have in there (I googled winter camping trip packing lists, as well as science-y tools and gadgets). For dibs car, I asked people on tumblr for suggestions as to what I should put in there.

And look up references! Reference is always a good thing.

In real life, I'm a maximalist and a clutterbug. This bleeds into my drawings - I like it when an environment feels full and lived in.

Here's my bedroom lol.

WELL typing and compiling this took up a greater portion of my Friday but I really hope this was helpful to you and others!!

[parisoonic]

How the hell do you manage to superimpose the hilariously exagerated proportions of the tf2 mercs into a cohesive 2d style? I always struggle SO much with like, the way the mercs' models have huge hands, the way they have relatively low-poly definition on things like arms, shoulders, and legs... and Especially the way like, the models are kinda janky when you pose them for art purposes- when using movement tools, things like armpits and seams between body parts get all deformed... Which makes the study of form and silhouette rather difficult.

I assume that a lot of your ability to translate the concept of the mercs from their original mediums into your own works of art comes to you quite naturally- through experience you have with drawing and art style stuff, as well as through intuition. I was simply wondering if I could poke at your mind and get some insight into your process, any thoughts you have about the proportions and silhouettes of the mercs, any quirks you've found while drawing the mercs, or simply what you enjoy drawing about them. Like, don't be afraid to infodump about something just because you think people wouldn't find it interesting- I am here, I am sitting, and I am listening- if you so choose to speak.

I am utterly fascinated and enraptured by the more behind-the-scenes aspect of art. The mundane things that come second nature to great artists yet seem so revolutionary to less experienced artists.

I love your work, I look forward to seeing more of it, and I hope you have a nice day :]

Sorry for the late reply! I've been a little…stuck on how to answer this but that's mainly because to me, drawing is composed of SO many different little skills - you have form, anatomy, shape language, silhouette, appeal, rhythm, acting and posing…not to mention everything AFTER your raw draughtmanship like line style, rendering and colour theory. Trying to distill a multiude of small skills into some pithy advice is overwhelming to my brain. So I'll take the invitation to ramble instead :))

I don't think I have any new or revolutionary insight into the tf2 guys specifically - more I'm using them as work horses to excercise general silhouette/posing/shape-language and further my skills when it comes to drawing characters!

I do agree though the proportions are rather silly when you stop and think about them realistically…they can be kinda tricky if you follow their 'actual' proportions. what looks great individually was maybe never meant to be directly compared (ie: Heavy's hand size against Spy's lol). It would've been funny if the TV show exsisted and we had more content to review…would the animators have had rules like Spy and Heavy can never shake hands? Would they cheated the proportions for shots? Or would they have said WHATVER it's gonna look weird and embraced it? (Like Kingpin in Spiderverse lol)

Paul Lasaine for 'Into the Spiderverse' This is AWESOME. But it's also one of the silliest designs I've ever seen comitted to screen. The varied scales of the characters work because of the unifying treatment (lighting, rendering, consistant hand anatomy, consistant clothing fold treatment etc) and because they are sort of proportional within themselves. A common mantra is that hands should be about as large as a characters face....which they all are here!

Human brains are very flexible and forgiving though. It's totally fine for you to put a character with huge hands and head next to a teeny tiny character! Vanellope and Ralph from Wreck-It Ralph look grand next to each other! And in that film you even have varying levels of stylisation sitting against each other (unified by the look dev treatment of the shaders and lighting). I think as long as the chracter is proportional within themselves it sort of works out. IE: a general rule is that a hand should be as large as the face so…you can have some large arse hands as long as their placed on a body with a big arse head. Unifying characters with the same treatment (ie: lineart brush, colouring style will also help them look cohesive next to each other :) )

I don't actually reference the 3D models/animations very much at all and instead draw their proportions based on my tastes for stylisation following their general vibes/silhouette profiles. I don't stick THAT close to their in-game looks and there are artists who do that are so so so much better than me (Creedei and Flapjack come to mind). I'm not amazing at body-type differentation and TBH they're all wearing chunky clothes all the time so I usually draw the guys as one-of-three body shapes: Heavy is the uniquely wide guy; Sniper/Scout/Spy are all tall and slim and Demo/Soldier/Medic/Engie have a little more of the generic 'hero' bodytype with varying tallness and broadness of the shoulders

Something like this! You can vary all these individual elements in terms of size, thickness, taper amount etc to create different characters. If you ARE going to reference the 3d works though you'll need to apply some anatomy knowledge to overcome the weird shoulders, armpits and knees which desperately need blendshapes to correct the 3D volumes and approach it a little more like an animation supervisor. There's a reason why you see in making-ofs and art-ofs character designers, character leads or animation supes doing drawovers of the models. These are character models that have had great effort put into their 'base' silhouette but it still needs to be reinforced in every frame for maximum appeal.

Shiyoon Kim for 'Raya' This sort of thing will occur at multiple stages during the animation process. Shiyoon Kim's notes are post final model but pre-animation. Most likely for internal rig tests, exploring what blend shapes and alt shapes are needed for the rigs etc. If your production has time, this will continue all the way to final anim. IF! But it's interesting to see how he emphasises the shapes and enhances the character acting of the 3d model.

As for 'mundane things' - I wouldn't say they're second nature! (If that makes you feel better!) I have to actively really persue certain advice and try to figure out how to best apply it. This can sometimes involve redrawing and redrawing an element of the drawing until I've grasped the nettle of whatever I'm after or…..until I get frustrated and either delete the drawing or just call it done lol

Here, I'm looking for a really specific flow of the head that sells both the acting and a subtle head tilt. I'm also trying to apply the general mantra regarding faces that converging lines (set by the eyebrows and mouth) are more appealing than parallel. It's tough! I also tend to use a drawing I've already done as a template/reference on the page too. Oh! This page is an amazing example of why I'm not an animator or storyboarder…consistancy? Who is she? 💅

Converging lines (that form tapered shapes) are always more appealing than parallel. Using this logic you can loft the facial features across converging lines to create dynamic appealing espressions. Combining this with anatomy, perspective and rotation is the tough part though. I'm still learning o7

The things I probably think about MOST are always flats vs curves, simple vs complex and general line of action/flow...and then eliminting tangents. Each of these can be a dedicated visual-essay on their own - hence my stumbling as to answer your question. Anyhow, not sure if it's ever come up on this blog but I looove dinosaurs :)) so i'm using a wee piece to demostrate these ideas! (but also to demostrate these concepts apply to everything from humans characters to animals, props and background design)

Okay, I'm getting self-aware that this is getting really long :') I have a wee tutorial tag for my blog if anyone wants to comb through my garbled art-thoughts. Learning, studying, repetition and practice will always be the greatest teachers! I'm glad you like my art- thank you so much for the lovely comments - I feel like such a noob still and not qualified to give people advice but we're in it together learning! High-five! 🙌

[tapwater118]

tpot 17 spoilers here's what i thought of it lalalala

overall very good episode!! not the *best* ever episode but not every episode can be. it was very silly and fun and also what the fuck is happening

this eliminations played out how i most expected it to, i like pillow and yellow face is alright i guess but it was definitely their times to go. love how pencil freaked out for a hot second over having the most votes (again) i knew they would do that they are so evil for it. I LOVED BOTTLE'S LITTLE DOODLES of course she draws 2018 cute boots and mouth good for her

speaking of bottle was such a fun host! the "everything she does takes literal days" thing was a bit overused but i'm glad they stopped doing that once the challenge started. nice little subtle bit of character-building for four given how he was seemingly happy with bottle taking over. bro cares more about cooking than hosting now i can respect the growth and progression

the challenge itself was a very neat idea, splitting up the teams like this is a very good way to get new groups of characters to interact who wouldn't have otherwise. i thought for a second when bottle shuffled everyone around that we were getting ANOTHER team swap and nearly screamed lmao. but yeah super funny how the eating contest objects where all chill with each other (for the most part) but everyone else was at each other's throats the whole time lmao

pencil. oughhhhh pencil. i am ill. i dont really think pen was the best choice to talk to her at the end but to be fair the options were pretty limited given that everyone else was either MIA or book. the bookcil scene was awesome yes girlie get ANGRY unleash your RAGE. i think it would have been a bit more impactful if they didn't have fanny going basically "erm, awkward!" right in the middle of it but yeah good food i am fed

oh my god what has happened to one's room. has gaty torn through there like a feral animal or something or was this all the product of one's own frustration. given how she fucking mutilates donut i wouldn't discount the latter possibility. also six is plot relevant what, and purple face is gonna lead them to the EXIT and then (theory time) one's gonna use that group to get three out of the fourtress for. something. idk yet but things are happening

individual challenges lightning round go! circus circumstances is amazing i love slasher tacks, love evil tv arc they should have him Kill more. ferris wheel was kinda whatever but i love how they're bringing back snowball's old relationships with certain characters, particularly gb and pen. THE FOURSE IS BACK I LOVE YOU FOURSE not much else to say i didn't already cover in the previous section. eating contest was fun they leaked price tag's search history (and loser got cancelled lmao). winner felt appreciated i need to kiss them what who said that

wow i had a lot to say about this one huh, forty minute episodes will do that to ya. elimination predictions: grassy is almost certainly out, the team 2 votes (aside from icy's) were really close last time so it really depends on where the icy voters' votes will go now, and just by fandom reaction i can tell you it will not be grassy. for 🎼 i'm less sure but i can certainly say bottle and pen are safe, they were all over this episode they got so much to do. i think it might be liy or tb as much as i hate to say it, they kinda got sidelined in their challenges

ok uhh tpot 18 or 19 will probably be a meetup episode so i'll be able to see it before the rest of you HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lordprettyflackotara]

sharp fangs || sam and colby || part three

smut minors dni 18+. tw: blood suckin hoes. also if you hate this so do i, the finale is gonna be the redemption.

It was unusual for Colby to have a differing opinion from Sam.

After all of their years together the two agreed on everything, except for one thing.

Your mortality.

The longer Sam and Colby stayed with you, the longer Colby began to recognize your concern about staying human. You had been begging for the past six months for them to turn you into one of them. You craved to be just like them, so you were guaranteed a spot in their trio forever. However, Sam disagreed. He feared for your soul, as well as wanting you to be the happiest version of yourself. He doubted becoming a vampire would allow that. You’d have to mysteriously disappear, cutting off all of your family and friends. Sam thought you deserved the stereotypical human experience, one that ended with the sweet relief of death.

You didn’t agree though and overtime, neither did Colby.

In Colby’s spare time he couldn’t help but notice how helplessly fragile humans were. When out stealing blood bags he could hear how sick humans could get at the hospital. They were just so incomprehensibly weak. Before you he had never given it much thought, but now with you invading every corner of his mind it was all he could think about. You laid curled up on his chest as he thought about it once more, his fingers absentmindedly playing with your hair. You were practically purring in satisfaction, his fingers always rubbing the right places on your scalp. Sam emerged from the closet, straightening out his jacket. "Alright, i'm gonna head out to hunt," He announced. Recently the boys had tried animal blood, or Sam had at least. It helped keep the deer population in check, even if it were a little ways away. Colby lied and said he did too, but he couldn't let the taste of human blood go. Animal blood was just so stale to him.

With human blood there was always a guessing game. Would it be sweet? Sour? Tangy? Blood types didn't even help the prediction, each human so uniquely different it was always a surprise. The sweetest Colby had ever had the pleasure of tasting though, was yours. Colby watched you kiss Sam goodbye, the blonde playfully squeezing your ass before jumping out of your window. You were used to this routine, one hunting while one stayed. It gave you time with each of them separately as well as protection.

You walked back over to Colby, an oversized t shirt of his covering your small frame. "So princess what did you want to do while he's gone?" Colby asked, propping his hands behind his head. You grinned as you climbed on top of him straddling his hips. "You know what I always want to do," You purred. Your thin panties rubbed against his jeans, Colby's large hands instantly finding your hips. The brunette found himself annoyed at the rule he and Sam made for your protection. Neither of them could have you individually, due to the unpredictable nature that came with being a blood sucking demon. If they were both in attendance it was guaranteed you'd be able to walk out of the room a human afterwards.

Normally this was as far as you both ever got, Colby encouraging you to return to his side for more affectionate cuddling. Yet he recognized the glint in your eyes that had been there for the past few months. You craved immortality just as much as he craved your blood. "Sam would be so mad at us," You panted, feeling his hips roll upwards into yours. Colby sat up, pressing slow kisses against your neck. He could feel the blood running through your veins. Your pulse was deliciously high, from his touch he assumed. "Do you want this as badly as I do?" Colby panted. You understood the double meaning in his words, your heart racing. "You'd make it feel good, right?" You asked, avoiding the question. Colby smirked against your skin, his cold hands exploring under your shirt.

"Don't I always princess?"

You grabbed his hair, forcing him to look at you in the eye. "You know how badly I want to be one of you. To run freely with you both all over the world," You said. He tucked some stray hairs behind your ears, his crimson red eyes blown with lust. "Sam will forgive you," Colby replied confidently. You brought your lips to his, your body swarming with warmth and anxiousness. You had been bit many times before, but knowing what was to come next made you antsy. Colby played with the hem of your shirt, tossing it over your head and onto the floor. He relished in the sight of your nipples growing perky under the cool night air. You swallowed as you tilted your head back, your eyes nervously fluttering shut. "Let me play with you first," Colby chuckled, flipping the two of you around.

Your back hit the mattress before you could comprehend it, a gasp escaping your lips. Colby wanted to take his time with you. After all, he had plenty of it. But he knew Sam would be eager to come back for another late night affair. He kissed down your chest, humming against the warmth your skin provided. He was soaking it in, a feeling he knew would be different by the time he was done with you. "I will miss your warmth," He admitted, his lips reaching your thin panties. He sometimes pondered why you even wore them, considering you found yourself without them more times then not. "At least i'll be able to keep up with you, you both always go so fast," You whimpered, feeling him rip your panties into shreds of the material. Each time it surprised you, no matter how many times he did it. Colby was impatient and impulsive. He did what he wanted and thought about the consequences later.

"You like it though, when we go fast," Colby teased, bringing two fingers to your soaked entrance. Your prep work was always for more pleasure then business. They fucked you so frequently a singular digit wasn't needed, both of their cocks and fingers always keeping you so impossibly full. He shoved them inside of you, watching your mouth fall open as he curled them. "See? Your face scrunching up in pleasure just from my fingers?" He teased. He began to curl his fingers faster, abusing your g spot as he pleased. Your legs always immediately started trembling, your moans sinful and unhinged. You tilted your head back, clawing at the sheets. You were close to cumming already, the night promising the usual several orgasms the boys were guaranteed to provide. Yet just as you were about to cum Colby removed his fingers, leaning over you. He began to undo his pants, his fangs popping out as he grinned down at you.

"Ready princess?"

"For you? Always."

You felt him begin to align himself with your entrance, before leaning down over your neck. He licked his lips, shoving himself inside as he bit into you. The taste of your blood was gratifying and delicious, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he bottomed out inside of you. You were in a pure state of bliss, seeing stars as Colby sucked your blood. You couldn't control your strangled moans and groans, your legs wrapping around his waist to bring him closer. You were on cloud nine, whimpering as dark spots began to cloud your vision. Your heart went from pounding to slowing, your pleasure being overridden by dizziness. Your breath became shallow, your body falling limp against the mattress. You couldn't even feel Colby's thrust anymore, your consciousness draining. You felt fear wash over you, your hearing dulling. Through the darkness grabbing at you, you could hear Sam's voice.

"Colby!"

[asher-agere]

Hiyooo! First I wanna say I really love ur blog! And your BSD agere headcanons, they bring me a lot of comfort! 💞

Would it be okay if i requested little Atsushi and caregiver Chuuya and Dazai headcanons? Mix of fluff and angst.

I'd imagine Atsushi being a very energetic, babbling and bubbly baby! And energetic as in like sensory seeking, rolling around and writhing on the floor, biting and chewing on everything even himself if stressed, echolalia and repeating phrases from the Internet, and be SUPER clingy and loves loves to be carried around, and even play fight as a way to get physical affection. Now the sad part, I'd imagine atsu also being a very sensitive baby, crying very easily. He'd also feel embarrassed to express his needs to Chuuya and Dazai and even be unsure whether to say no or yes to something.

Uh sorry if that was real detailed only on Atsushi... it's cuz I'm an Atsushi fictionkin and i already rlly like how u write cg Dazai and chuuya ^_^!!

If you get to do my request, thank uuuu!!!!! >_<♡

First I wanna say thank you so much! Hehe you’re so sweet. I’m always so happy to hear I manage to comfort someone with my writing, it feels like my contributions have meaning :3 And don’t worry about the detailed request! It just gives me more to work with!

Little Atsushi + Caregivers Chuuya and Dazai

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☆ First up is age range of course! I view Atsushi as regressing to the 4-6 range! This request kind of sounds more like baby regression? But that actually lines up with how I imagine him! I imagine Atsushi as a big kid, he just gets a lot of comfort from baby stuff. However for the sake of this specific request I’m still gonna drop him a little bit younger, like 2-5! Just a tiny bit more baby potential because honestly who doesn’t love extra baby potential?

⛦ Soukoku babysitting together is almost always them bickering like an old married couple and the little one just getting to watch them like it’s a soap opera. But specifically what was said about the echolalia seemed perfect for this… Hear me out “Chibi’s so small he can’t even reach the top shelf!” “Chibi… Small…” “I can control gravity! I don’t need to be freakishly tall!” “G’av’ty… F… Fr…” *Baby giggling and babbling ensues as he happily attempts to pronounce the big kid words* DO YOU SEE MY VISION HERE?

₊ ⊹ I’m just gonna address each individual thing mentioned in the request because I love them all… Atsushi just rolling around on the floor and giggling to himself? Dazai joins him! Dazai canonically rolls around when he’s thinking sometimes,so he’s more than comfortable with it. He’ll always make light conversation with Atsushi too! “What adventures are we going on today Cub?” Chuuya sits on the couch like a civilized person and even though he says the floor rollers look stupid he always has an incredibly fond look on his face looking at them. He’ll contribute by catching Atsushi in a blanket and rolling him into a burrito!

☆ Biting and chewing on things, Chuuya has bought this kid a million teethers, yet he still chews anything he finds on the floor! Or himself which is an entirely other, even more concerning, issue. Chuuya is a mother hen, he sees Atsushi chewing things he shouldn’t and he’s rushing over with a proper teether. Dazai is much calmer and also causing much more entertaining chaos for himself. He’ll just crouch down next to Atsushi like “What have you got there? You know I bet Chuuya would be better to chew on. Yup it shows him you love him!” He has good intentions though, he knows Chuuya will get the kid a teether. Despite his claims that biting is a love display he’s way over dramatic if Atsushi bites him, claiming the tigers bite has killed him instantly

⛦ Echolalia and repeating phrases! I already kinda covered this but I’m covering it again because I have more thoughts… Chuuya will educationally play games with Atsushi! Stuff like “Can you say ‘Baaa’? Good. What animal makes that sound? A sheep! God job kid” Dazai will just make fun sounds and watch Atsushi try to copy him. Atsushi will definitely randomly say funny stuff from cartoons he watches! Dazai and Chuuya are expected to say the next line but it’s not often they remember honestly, Chuuya even less so

₊ ⊹ Carrying little Atsushi is 100% Chuuya’s job. Dazai has weak little noodle arms and I refuse to believe otherwise. Chuuya on the other hand is insanely strong! Plus you know… Gravity manipulation. He can make Atsushi light as a feather and pick him up with ease! Though Dazai will poke him to catch him off guard and make Chuuya almost drop the little were tiger from the sudden weight shift. Dazai usually gets a solid smack for the trick, which bothered Atsushi at first but that’s just how Soukoku is and he’s learned to just giggle along!

☆ Play fighting I imagine Atsushi just like lightly punching one of his caregivers legs, or tackle hugging them! Dazai. The drama queen. Will collapse to the floor claiming he’s been defeated and hug Atsushi as tightly as he can (The yelling usually draws Chuuya’s attention). Chuuya ‘fights’ back though! He’ll sit on the floor with Atsushi and hold his fists up, pretending to just barely miss all of his punches, and of course he lets Atsushi land all of his! When the weretiger inevitably wins Chuuya picks him up and spins him around as a victory celebration, then he’ll happily just hold the little guy!

⛦ Atsushi is absolutely a sensitive baby, and he cries really easily :( I feel like he’d try to hide his tears since in the orphanage he’d get yelled at for crying, or at the very least made fun of for it. A lot of the time he tries hiding his face under a blanket or behind a plushy. Dazai uses the silly approach, making up a story about how Atsushi’s tears are magical and obviously magic is ok right? Chuuya will just hold Atsushi on his lap and bounce him on his knee, reassuring the boy that it’s ok to cry, telling him what a good thing it is that he feels so strongly, it’s a beautiful thing truly

₊ ⊹ Atsushi doesn’t express his needs in the slightest, luckily Dazai is the ultimate person reader! He can usually figure out what Atsushi wants and get it for him, but when Dazai isn’t around Chuuya is a bit overbearing, practically every minute asking Atsushi if he wants anything, how he’s feeling. He needs to make sure he’s not missing any of Atsushi’s needs!

☆ Wrapping up with pet names! Chuuya uses sweet friendly nicknames! Things like “Kid” “Sweetheart” and “Bud”. Dazai uses his silly, over the top fancy nicknames! Things like “Darling” “Sweetness” and “My baby” (He emphasizes the word my to start a fight with Chuuya because it makes Atsushi happy to hear the reminder that people want to argue about who’s closer to him). And of course they both use “Cub”! It’s just mandatory. I don’t make the rules

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Ok wait I think this fixed my writers block? This was so fun and easy to write like. What? Crazy. ALSO MY MANGA WALL IS BEING WORKED ON AGAIN. Hopefully it’ll truly finish soon so I can show some of my favorite parts :^

[DNI ID: A white box with a grey border. Atsushi to the right and a white tiger to the left. Grey text reads “DNI if your blog isn’t child safe. I be will block NSFW accounts” End ID]

[psychemochanight]

Can I ask for all your thoughts and opinions on Dick and Kory's relationship?

Thank You 😊

I'll try, but I don't have my thoughts straight so I don't promise a very eloquent answer, lmao

I can't say I know enough about all the lines where they are together, so I'm not going to go around quoting moments from the comics, but I'm going to focus on what I think about their relationship, if that's okay-

Despite my obvious lack of knowledge, I think it's also obvious that as far as canon ships go, Dick and Kory are my favorites- so I'm gonna give some context first (?)

I met Dick and Kory in the Teen Titans 2003 animated series (I was 2 in 2003, don't expect me to read comics yet, lmao), so obviously it's the first ship I met in relation to them, and yet, that's not my favorite dynamic between them, so I kind of didn't care about their relationship.

It was a few years later that I met them in the comics, and honestly, that's when I started to grow fond of their dynamic.

Do you know this joke about the princess boy and the knight girl? Well, while Dick is someone with a strong character, I always loved how he seems more docile next to Kory, while Kory, unlike her innocent personality in TT03, in the comics she has a much more determined character, still maintaining her ignorance about the human world, but without making her look like a helpless girl, which makes them fall a little into this dynamic.

I don't know Kory very well individually, so I can't speak to her development in particular, but at least on Dick's side, I feel like Kory's presence at his side helps him in ways that no other character can.

I mentioned that Dick becomes docile around Kory, but I don't mean submissive, but relaxed. Dick is a person who is constantly tense and alert, something that he loses with his friends, it is still evident that he maintains a latent state of protection over them, like an older brother. This was not the case with Kory, even if he was still protective of her, Kory was responsible for this dynamic not happening, this is due to her own maturity and protection towards him, what always prevented this older brother/younger sister relationship from occurring. It's not that it never happens, but it's almost non-existent.

I think this is what makes their relationship so different from the one Dick has with his other friends, and also what makes their romantic relationship so different from Dick and Barbara's as well.

The role of protector constantly changes between Dick and Kory, it is not settled on just one of them, and this in part makes their relationship much stronger emotionally.

They both are characters who are characterized by their intense feelings, they express it differently, but they feel with the same intensity.

Something curious about them is that Dick, who is always quite extroverted, becomes more reserved when he is with Kory, who becomes the extrovert in the relationship. This detail is one of the ones I personally like most in their relationship, to be honest-

The fact that Dick, who to me is actually an ambivert, leaning more towards the introverted side in fact (the correct definition, not the one people confuse with being unsociable or shy, but rather the one who needs to recharge his energies in solitude, not in the constant company of people), he allows himself to be more reserved in his ways towards Kory, without that constant need to be the one to say everything out loud, because Kory understands him on a different level.

Of course, this also brings problems sometimes due to the cultural difference, but this is what always gave depth to the couple.

I feel like if the writers hadn't separated them in an attempt to give them more individual development, they would actually be one of the most powerful and well-developed couples, due to the nuances, the depth and different factors that make their personalities, so similar and yet so different, complement each other so well.

[bluegekk0]

Hi hello hey how are you?

Asking to know what dem bugs eat? At least what do you think their favourite food is? (I am taking about your HK au)

Hi! I'm doing alright, hope you're also doing well!

The foods depend on the diet of each individual bug. Some of them are part of tribes which are strictly carnivorous or herbivorous, but many are omnivores so they're able to eat a variety of food.

In regards to the family itself, Vyrm is an omnivore (though he does primarily eat meat, so I think facultative carnivore would be more accurate), and the same applies to Hornet, Lewk, Asta and Milo. Grimm is technically an omnivore, though his body doesn't actually require food to survive (it's something that wasn't passed onto his children since it comes directly from how the nightmare essence interacts with his body). Holly is void-like when it comes to their organs, but the closest term for them would be omnivore - the void can consume anything that's animal and non-animal food. Zote is the only outlier, he comes from a herbivorous tribe and if he tried eating meat in any significant amount, it would make him sick.

Now for specific foods:

Vyrm - he occasionally hunts and consumes raw meat as a way to embrace and live with his instincts. Wyrms were noticeably more "primitive" than the average sapient bug, so this kind of lifestyle is coded into his brain. He doesn't require it to survive, though, it just makes his brain happy when he does that, if that makes sense. But aside from that, he can eat cooked meat no issue and is actually a big fan. He loves fruit as well, vegetables a little less but he's not too picky of an eater (Lifeblood is the only thing that makes him sick). For a specific favorite meal, I'm imagining him being very fond of something like a roasted Tiktik with sauce made from a cranberry like fruit.

Grimm - like I said, he's technically an omnivore, though he has a very clear preference for fruit. He absolutely loves fruit tea, if you're seeing him there's a good chance he's either drinking tea or waiting for it to be ready. He does also drink blood, but it's less a diet thing and more to do with the nightmare essence in his body (the blood helps it flow through his body, extending its lifespan). For his favorite food, he'd love fruit pie, maybe something with raspberry (or whatever their equivalent is)

Hornet - her mother was from a carnivorous tribe, but she's an omnivore like her father. That said, she does have a big preference for meat, over the years of being on her own she would survive on simple animal meat roasted over fire, with some spices if she came across any. Now that she has a proper home and a kitchen, she experiments more and cooks for herself and the family. I think her favorite would be something along the lines of Crawlid steak in sauce with some vegetables.

Holly - they're interesting in this case because they have no mouth. Instead, they eat by absorbing the food with void tendrils, either "swallowing" it or drinking it through a "void straw". They can eat anything meat or non-meat, and I think their favorite type of food would be stews. Perhaps a Vengefly noodle stew of sorts?

Lewk - I think similarly to Grimm, he'd have a strong preference for fruit. As he grows older, he's actually gonna become very interested in cooking, so he'll likely end up joining Hornet in the kitchen. He enjoys a variety of meat dishes but I think his favorite food would be something like fruit pudding salad.

Asta - unlike Grimm, she's definitely an avid meat eater among the kids. I think out of them, she'd be the one being grumpy about having to eat her veggies. I could see a dish like Gruzzer rib roast being her favorite.

Milo - he doesn't hate veggies like his sister, I think he's actually surprisingly not a picky eater. I think his favorite food would be something along the lines of a vegetable casserole with Tiktik meat

Zote - like I said, he doesn't eat meat since he's a vegetarian/herbivore, so as you can guess, he doesn't have a lot to choose from when eating with the family (though Hornet often makes a meat-free version for him when possible). I could see him liking vegetable stew a lot.

[carinavi5]

I can't do anything to help those in Valencia, but I at least want to say my opinion.

I don't live close enough to go offer my help, and I can't really donate right now. I don't have a car and I live pretty far away from the city, which is where the main points to collect food, water and clothes are at.

But I'm seeing so much help from the rest of the Spaniards. Giant amounts of food and water being sent that way, and an even bigger amount of Valencians or people that live nearby walking to the most affected places carrying food, water and clothes, and shovels, brooms, buckets and whatever they each had in their home that could be used to help. Seeing all those people, all those volunteers, helping is heartwarming. Good people do exist. Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo. Only the village saves the village.

I want to clarify all this people are going there walking or biking because they aren't use the roads to not oversaturate them.

Now, let's being. What has happened?

Before: The day before AEMET, the State Meteorology Agency, had been giving warnings and updating their social media and all that saying that this was big. But nonetheless, no official warnings where given by the state. School and work was all continuing as before. No kind of informative help was sent to the people.

During: Rain. A shit ton of rain. A years worth of rain in 8 hours. Even in the places with no rain the effects are catastrophic, the rivers have caused floodings, and the cities, towns and villages have all been covered by meters of water. I don't know how much. (I also want to say that I'm no expert, but why had it been allowed to build in certain areas?)

The water rises in minutes, is fast, and with no warning no one was prepared. People were off to work, continuing with their every day life, now trapped wherever the flood caught them. Many others had gone to their garages to try and get their cars out when they saw that they were starting to flood. And many people have died in them, trapped. Don't blame these people, no kind of warning of how big this was gonna be was given, cars are a very big economical investment for the families and, again, the water rises too fast to really do much.

Cars and all kind of big, sharp and heavy crap being dragged by the water. That water also contaminated (by what the river in itself had, the liquids that came from inside the cars and other places, and now by the decomposing organic matter), so those inevitably swimming in it were in great danger for many reasons.

Think about the animals too. Ah, and also, no light nor electricity while all this was going on.

I've seen people on social media saying how it all went for them. I'm not gonna say their individual stories, but if you look them up, you'll be able to find them.

Immediately after: The people went to different stores to try and get food, water and medicine. All this stores were already broken and had been affected by the floodings. And still some newspapers (you know who you are) were trying to put shame on this people. Yes, I guess some people could have used the commotion to steal from houses or jewelry stores or whatever, but it wasn't the case of what they were showing, and it's not what the vast majority of people where doing.

Many others were out looking for their missing relatives. Some started to walk towards the big city nearby, to find some help. The conditions of the streets were apocalyptic.

A bit more time after: What I've said at the beginning. The affected throwing out the things inside their house that were too damaged by the water. Still no food, water or electricity. The roads blocked by the residues of what the water had dragged. Lots of mud everywhere. And the good people going there to offer their help. To clean the streets and their houses.

More or less right now: Other parts of Spain and even other countries offer help and resources. That help is denied. It took too long for the military to be sent to this places, but they are advising the volunteers not to go help, that theres no need anymore and that they are making it harder for the "actual help" to go. Lies. There's no emergency services help, no policemen, firefighters or military helping. And not because they don't want to, the help they offer is being rejected, not authorized.

Cleaning all that mud is so hard. All the help is appreciated. With proper equipment and machinery this would be easier.

Who to blame: The government of Valencia. Some say the one from the whole Spain for not applying certain measures. If you follow the law, the one to ask for certain measures to be taken is the Government of Valencia. And changing the whole administration of a disaster in the middle of it is just not a good idea, even if it's going late, because everything would be even more postponed.

And what truly makes them the ones to blame, they CHOSE not to warn the people, but they had cut down the budget for the emergency services and gave it to bullfighting instead.

Now the number of deaths is around 209, but there are still many disappeared people.

If you don't want to blame rain on anyone (some are saying climate change, others are arguing back saying that this has happened before), at least blame how they handled it.

Blame Carlos Mazón.

The king, queen, president of Spain and president of Valencia have gone to one of the affected places, Paiporta. I don't know why they are there, they are obviously not helping with the manual labor and are not saying anything useful either. I've seen some stuff around, I don't know what's really going on so for now I don't say anything. But the people were screaming at them and throwing stuff.

Some days after I'm still not too sure what's happening rn in Spain lol.

[meddlingmaez]

Hadestown (in 4 Acts)

One of the biggest dilemmas being a Hadestown fan is deciding which soundtrack to have your friends listen to first. Each soundtrack has its advantages, and with such drastic song & character & story differences between productions, the soundtrack you choose to show a friend may lastingly shape what they think of the show.

Fan-compiled Spotify & YouTube playlists have been an answer to this problem, though a limited solution, as the show's story beats may not make sense when simply intercutting between the best versions of songs from different productions. Not to mention the best versions of some songs are not found on Spotify or any officially released soundtrack.

So, three years ago I made a fan edit of the soundtrack backdropped with minimalist visuals and featuring the lyrically best/most dramatically useful versions of each track (in my opinion) to help a new viewer understand the show's plot, aesthetic, structure, and dramatic heart; cutting out certain small story beats to gel individual songs within the context of all other tracks used. The end product is a sum of parts that creates a new shape and whole to my favvvvv musical :3

This is Hadestown (in 4 Acts), a semi-visual fan edit of the Hadestown soundtrack made with the intention of being the most accessible version of the show for someone who hasn't seen or listened to Hadestown before. This was made for you to send to your uninitiated friends, to be their first experience of the show.

Give it a watch and tell me what y'all think! ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

(( i intended to publish this three years ago when i originally made the edit, but alassss, when i uploaded it to youtube the vid got an immediate copyright strike :\ figures. but !! i just discovered that at some point in the last three years the copyright strike was removed? idk why and i'm not gonna question it 😅. i'm pumped though to finally be sharing the edit [albeit three years late] !!!

i've thought in the years since about how i might make different editing choices [especially since the release of the west end soundtrack]. but unfortunately I lost the original premiere pro files on an old hard drive 😭💀😭 so this is sadly the final version. ))

Here's a work cited for the media used:

~ Font: Kraft Nine

~ Flower animation: from the Hadestown website

~ Background: from the Hadestown website

~ Songs:

01 – We Raise Our Cups (Instrumental) – uploaded to YouTube by EJM Instrumentals

02 – Road to Hell – 2019 Original Broadway Cast Recording (OBC)

03 – Any Way the Wind Blows – OBC

04 – Come Home with Me – OBC

05 – Wedding Song – OBC

06 – Epic I – Bootleg of 2016 New York Theatre Workshop Production

07 – Livin' it Up on Top – OBC/2017 New York Theatre Workshop Live Recording (NYTW)

08 – All I've Ever Known – OBC

09 – Way Down Hadestown – OBC/NYTW

10 – A Gathering Storm – OBC

11 – Epic II – NYTW

12 – Chant – NYTW

13 – Hey, Little Songbird – OBC

14 – When the Chips are Down – OBC

15 – Gone, I'm Gone – OBC

16 – Why We Build the Wall – OBC

17 – Way Down Hadestown (Reprise) – OBC

18 – Flowers – OBC

19 – Wait for Me – OBC

20 – Our Lady of the Underground – OBC

21 – Come Home with Me (Reprise) – OBC

22 – Papers – OBC/2010 Righteous Babe Records Concept Album

23 – Nothing Changes – Bootleg of 2016 New York Theatre Workshop Production

24 – If it's True – Phone recording of 2011 America Sings Hadestown Tour uploaded to YouTube by AugustWynde

25 – How Long – OBC

26 – Chant (Reprise) – NYTW

27 – Epic III – NYTW

28 – Lover's Desire – 2010 Righteous Babe Records Concept Album

29 – Promises – OBC

30 – Word to the Wise – OBC

31 – His Kiss the Riot – OBC/NYTW

32 – If You Wanna Walk Out of Hell – OBC

33 – Wait for Me (Reprise) – NYTW

34 – Doubt Comes In – NYTW

35 – Road to Hell (Reprise) – OBC

36 – We Raise Our Cups – OBC

[greatwyrmgold]

are you gonna watch the Gnosia anime when it comes out?

Yes.

I feel like I shouldn't make a post that's just me saying "yes," so, um...I wonder how they're going to structure the anime.

For those who don't play Gnosia and have to infer its mechanics from the dozen-ish posts I've posted, it's basically a virtual game of Mafia/Werewolf with an overarching time-loop narrative.

In theory, you're trying to learn as much as you can about the other crew members by encountering them in a variety of situations created by the loops. In practice, you're really here because a virtual social deduction game sounds fun, and the snippets of lore and characterization are basically just icing on the cake.

But an anime where the main character does the same dance of trying to figure out who's Gnosia and who's a Bug and who's human without looking to suspicious, every single episode, with the story and character stuff layered on top? Would probably be boring and repetitive.

So the Gnosia anime needs to focus on the characters and overarching plot, find a way to put them at the center. But it still needs to preserve the time-loop social-deduction angle, both because that's core to the game's identity and because the plot doesn't really work without it. Removing the time loop element would mean not just removing the heart of the gameplay loop, but also destroying the whole conceit of the investigation and making its canon resolution impossible. I don't think I need to explain why that's not a real option.

And beyond the big-picture stuff, I'm also curious about the nuts and bolts. For instance, how many loops will they do per episode?

If we assume a typical one-cour season length, that's one episode for the tutorial loops and assorted introductions, then cram the entire story into eleven or twelve loops. By contrast, people trying to beat Gnosia in as few loops as possible usually take around a hundred, and the lowest I could find was seventy. Granted, it's unlikely that all of those loops had plot-critical events, and some of those events can be cut, but there are 82 notes to collect and it's hard to combine many of them, so I struggle to imagine how you'd cram all of that plus the endings into just a dozen loops.

If there are 2-3 loops per episode (after the first), then that's more reasonable; something like 35-50 loops total. But also, that would leave each loop with something like 7-12 minutes of screentime, and that's just absurdly fast, especially if you're trying to cram multiple events into each loop.

There are a few ways to resolve this problem, and none of them seem likely.

One would be completely reworking the plot, which invalidates some of my key assumptions, but I think I've explained why that seems unlikely.

Another option would be to trim down the cast; for all they add to the game, characters like Shigemichi and Comet and Chipie can be cut from the story without fundamentally changing it. But the anime key visuals imply the whole cast is going to be there, at least in the background, so we can rule that out.

Or they could simply make a bigger anime, with more or longer episodes. But they didn't do that for Medalist, which AFAICT is a much more popular IP.

One way they could sneak in a "bigger anime" plan would be to resolve part of the plot in season 1 and angle for another season or two to finish up the plot. The problem with that is that Gnosia's story lacks any mid-level structure.

There's structure to individual loops and events, and there's an overarching narrative and goal, but there's not much that needs to be analyzed in any specific order. Big spoiler-worthy reveals aren't uncovered through multiple loops of trial and error; they're discovered through being at the right place in the right timeline.

Moreover, while some of those reveals are more significant than others, it's hard to say that there's any Big Secrets worth building a mystery-box around. Maaaybe Manan? But that's not a status-quo-shaking Everything Is Different Now secret. It's more of an "Oh, that's why they're like this" secret.

Whatever they settle on will probably be interesting. Unless it's stupid.

[afternoonblues]

finally after almost 2 weeks, i've finished re-watching the raven of inner palace anime, re-read the first 5 volumes of the LN & completed the last and final 2 volumes. thus, concluding the whole series. (now, spoilers ahead!)

this is gonna be a long, a very much selfish ramble because i have so many things to say and so many feelings to feel so i just want to take things slowly and try to as carefully as possible articulate, for me to look back. i will probably talk about many characters along with the ones i had already mentioned during my first read of the vol. 1-5 during march of this year.

first of all, i didn't really expect that the inevitable sadness i felt while reading this story for the first time would resurface again. i almost deluded myself into thinking that i would easily skim through the 5 vols without much hesitations but...i was wrong. every single feelings rose up like steam from the hidden corners of my memory. but not just that, i could also additionally learn more about certain characters like senri, shiki, yozetsu and even eisei.

at certain parts of the story, i felt like i was reading again for the first time, feeling conflicted about certain characters like hakurai, shiki, banka (for example, why would she do that? why would she tell her father about jusetsu's secret even after all that knowing contemplations?) and her brothers but later as more pages were turned and we move along with the story, i understand her perspective and later, in the last two vols, her brothers too. it was serene how everything wrapped up at the end for these four siblings. they sort of became free of as ko jokingly said the curse put by their own father.

because we're on the topic of the ending, i'm gonna be honest, i was genuinely scared because i didn't want it to be too heartwrenching. i don't think i would've loved that feeling in my heart and soul. i am actually genuinely happy with how all the strings tied up at the end. all characters get their sufficient ending, albeit not all so satisfactory as we would all want but still there's not much of a tinge of utter sadness. except for, i guess, shin. but i will write about that a bit later.

the last paragraphs of the ending put such a big smile on my face. it was bittersweet, yes, but still an honest one. nothing out of ordinary and as i would expect of our main two protagonists. i liked that koshun and jusetsu never said any words of eternal parting during their last physical encounter (while they were still young). koshun said, "that's enough for today" after each of them placed their individual go stones. they kept communicating through sumaru, the star raven, the raven's original apparatus. i liked that their one common connection was the game of go. you know, i was washing my face this afternoon after finishing the final volume and realized something.

the go stones are black and white. remember how koshun said something along the lines - the moon has both shade and light. but koshun and jusetsu is both shade and light as well. they're not just two things respectively. both of them are inevitably a single thing - the moon. two halves of single entity. go stones are black and white. the moon too is both black and white, when in shade and when in light. therefore, this playing of go is the only thing that keeps them as one. this is that auspicious thing of their that they carry while on this journey of a relationship they have, regardless of how vast and distant it might be. i just...couldn't stop thinking about it. i really don't know if this is what it is supposed to mean but it is simply just my wishful interpretation. i will not enforce this theory upon anyone to agree with me.

i'm just glad that the hope and perhaps a dream that koshun had which is them still playing go even when they're elderly came true, after all. especially when he was not the emperor anymore and tied down by the shackles of the imperial ground. at the end of their lives, they were finally free. perhaps in next lives, they will become more closer and nothing will seperate them.

i was also glad that the story simply didn't end with jusetsu becoming free of the raven. i was worried that she would end up becoming a lone wanderer and go onto living a solitary life without at least a few people she made meaningful connections with. the absolute delight for me was when i read how not just onkei and tankai but jiujiu herself ending up tagging along with jusetsu on her path in becoming a sea merchant under the teachings of chitoku, kajo's father. i liked it very much when jiujiu was so adamant at joining her niangniang when she was embarking on the journey to find the other half of raven at je island. jiujiu knew that if she didn't, she would never be able to see her again. so good job on that, jiujiu!

as for tankai and onkei, i kind of expected them to tag along with jusetsu even when she would be free of all the shackles. this part was very much clear to me during the golden goblet chapter, involving tankai. the air changed after that time. the perfect found family to ever exist, i would say.

also the development of onkei's emotional openness with jusetsu was a nice thing to watch. he was practically distraught when jusetsu's soul drifted away. his realisation that at time of her imminent danger, he couldn't do anything. this never changed. he became overly conscious with the outmost safety and well being of jusetsu. things shifted in him after this incident and it continued till the end of the story. his feelings reflected more on his face and he became more open to talk and not just guard her out of liability. i think tankai remained almost the same. the only thing was that he was more honest and straightforward with jusetsu. his dynamic with jiujiu balanced out the reserved nature of both jusetsu and onkei, creating the perfect equilibrium.

as for kajo, i also believe that her ending was perfect too. that last encounter between kajo and jusetsu though....man, i teared up. also our girl told kajo that her father keeps her childhood shoes with him as an auspicious item while travelling on sea waters. for kajo who always thought that her father didn't think much of her, this must have come like a whirlwind for her along with the imminent departure of her beloved amei, jusetsu who finally...finally!!!! called her aje as she said her farewell.

oh, kajo, i cried with you. but i was so happy that koshun never abandoned her, which i knew he would never. and, i simply knew no one could've been a better empress than her. her taking in banka's child and adoring him is something i expected from her. even banka herself knows her son was in better hands. kajo has always been one of my favourite female characters in this story. since day one i haven't had a single conflicting thought about her. she was always so dignified and well-defined. truly the best aje jusetsu could ever ask for and i too agree that there's no way she could ever repay her back. it's a good feeling that it was kajo's father who took jusetsu under his wing, therefore, i would like to believe that the thread between kajo and jusetsu never severed or thinned. she sort of became a part of her family, her real amei.

while talking about conflicting, i can never ignore banka. now...look, i love this girl too. her character development was wonderful in my eyes. i was so goddamn happy when she lashed out at her father...which sort of ignited something in both shin and ryo. at this point, i had no idea about ko but oh dear....i had no idea what was in store. now...before that, i have said how i didn't like how even though banka knew what her father was like, she still gave away jusetsu's secret, all while she herself had opened up to jusetsu about her family curse and about her adopted younger sister. it was just...idk i was so taken aback by it all. but then i understood why did what she did. she was simply just a gaslighted seventeen year old girl, daughter of an absentee father, who simply wanted a bit of love and attention from him considering her mother was also no more. and later this also became evident in both shin and ko too as the story progress considering their mother too never looked at them and stayed cooped up in her room till her death. banka was simply...or i would say, the whole saname siblings are such a pitiful bunch. all because of that piece of shit of a father, choyo. he definitely did not get the death he should've deserved.

because what was that fucking logic again? just because jusetsu was not in existence to destroy that dusk jewel when he was having his rendezvous with his own younger sister, yo, who because of the saname clan curse would die eventually at fifteen. shouldn't her death have been resulted from multiple factors like her not knowing why a girl younger than her was adopted? what was this girl's purpose and the supposed curse in their family? also, the fact that not only a naive girl died on behalf of her, she had to also carry a child conceived through an incestuous relationship with choyo himself? we never really get her perspective on what her thoughts were on her relationship with her elder brother, choyo. i'm sure these two things multiplied way too much and became detrimental to her mental health and thus led her to death. where the hell does jusetsu's non-existence self come into play in all these? i have never in my life seen such bullshit logic for someone to literally do anything and everything to hate and kill someone.

and in all these, i would say it was shin suffering the most. the traumatizing truth of his origin just made me stunned. i never in my life expected this to ever happen. i always thought shin to be the better of the three brothers, especially considering how he had his own lil crush on jusetsu. i'm just glad he got to stand up against his father one last time, leave that godforsaken family, regardless of how much ryo resents him internally and live a new life, with a new name given by koshun. and most importantly, jusetsu was the one to console him. she is just such a good listener, a safe haven without any internalized prejudices. (she has done this countless times, with onkei, ishiha, tankai and even koshun.) anyway, i don't really think shin ever healed completely. his was the only ending that made me feel sad and incomplete.

as for ko, i had not much of an inkling of his personality...and considering the rumours that he might become the actual heir to choyo...i was like oh, i have an idea of what he might be like but that is what it is - just an idea, nothing more and nothing less. even with the way his first interaction with shin went as shin landed on ga province kept up with my idea of him but....then things started going downhill. the rumours were exponentially far from the truth and ko was just the most complicated sibling out of all the saname siblings, also afflicted with same things banka and his brothers were which at least i would say in his case, he got his saving through yozetsu jikei.

ko left me perplexed at times. neither did i like him nor did i dislike him. sometimes i feel empathetic towards and other times, i just absolutely don't like the things he says out of that mouth. his mind and his physical self were never in one place. this man was in a battle of his own. even though jikei fills up that father shaped hole in his chest, i still feel conflicted by what happened to jo after being verbally influenced by ko. while he got his saving, another got banished. kind of mirrors to what happened to him and shin, i believe. although for shin, it was self-inflicted out of external influence, kind of like self-exile. keeping his siblings at arm's length but jo's life gets eventually over. at least before ko came into the picture, he was doing something he was genuinely good at.

among the elderly people, i definitely love love love senri and jikei. these two are just so much of a favourite of mine. the best uncles i could ever ask for. i am also very glad that senri came into jusetsu's life at such a turnover point in her life, helping her, guiding her. somehow i feel like reijo and senri stands quite close to each other in jusetsu's heart. senri was the father she never had. plus both jikei and senri were fun characters too. they were elderly and far more experienced with life and the dealings of the world but still they carried a softness in their hearts even after facing their own trials and tribulations. unlike someone we know like choyo. the most detestable elderly character in this whole story. even i think gyoei perspective-wise had some legit reasons to dislike jusetsu. i personally find it unreasonable but i can excuse his extremely old age and long connection with reijo. at least hakurai too had his own redemption arc while fighting the ao god but choyo? nah, that man was just....ugh.

i'm just glad that senri and jusetsu kept communicating through letters even after he retired and she got freed and talked about her to others. jikei too, after his daughter's death, at least now he has a granddaughter to whom he's going to pour all his love that he wish he could give to his late daughter. especially without any regrets this time.

what surprised me the most apart from all these was the raven's unregulated emotional disposition. raven was truly one curious entity. her antics and personality were something i wasn’t anticipating at all. i had always assumed her to be a mysterious character with a heavy presence after all, with all the pretence that was set for thousands of years in association with the winter sovereign and eventually, with the raven consorts…especially contrasting to the menacing ao god. she was, you know what...a fun one actually. kinda badass too. and she is definitely not the bad guy people make her out to be. how sweet that even after the raven left jusetsu's body, she still kept her apparatus, sumaru to jusetsu so that she can communicate with koshun considering shogetsu, the owl's apparatus was there with him.

like that was her little thank you gift. for keeping her trust and freeing her to her true complete self.

oh another one, how can i forget? kosho. man....that whole interaction between jusetsu and kosho when her soul was drifting. ran yu kind of had every right to be scared of her. i too would be the same. i can never fathom how horrendous her obsession was...the curse and shackles she placed for every raven consorts to come after her. jusetsu was right. for kosho, ran yu was her tunnel vision. no lives ever mattered to her other than that.....not even her own. what a twisted character she was. but somehow idk i want a side story of how ran yu and kosho came to such point in their individual lives and then at last merged into one until again getting separated by death, that too in a horrible way.

additionally, i would like to say cho, even though was a minor character in the whole of the story was such a fun addition. cho was such a interesting fellow too, going into anti-existential crisis out of no where while witnessing the gods fight and randomly jumping into the sea all the while senri stood there flabbergasted, i let out a chuckle during that part for real…& then him washing up on the shore, all alive saying how “nah i don’t think the sea god likes me very much” to which senri absolutely disagrees saying how he couldn't have been any more farther away from the truth…what a silly guy. i love him.

shiki was one interesting fellow too. a grey one i would say. i don't have much to say about him because there wasn't much impact of him in my heart. he's just someone fighting his own demons. he has his own justifications for it and i guess, we all have our own too. good thing is at least, the final confrontation between hakurai and shiki let shomei's soul to pass over. i simply felt sympathetic for her more than anything.

random but now i wonder how koshun was like as a father? as he never really had a present relationship with his father and his mother's death has marked him for life. he had both a son from banka and a daughter from koei. i'm sure he was as gentle as ever. i can just not think of him anything other than that.

finally, as for eisei, what a lovely and bittersweet scene it was. the very last encounter we read between jusetsu and eisei where she asked eisei for his handkerchief while he was returning hers because it's auspicious to carry your relative's belonging while at sea. oh man. by this time, i was already sad with kajo & jusetsu's interaction so this just made me feel so devastated. her teasing at the end by calling him, brother or honorable elder brother....

in senri's words, "you never know where and how you're going to meet someone or whether they'll be able to help you. it's so curious how one single person can lead to another, and then another and another..."[....] "it applies to the dead as well."

overall, i would say i am just so exceptionally glad that shirakawa-sensei didn't leave all the loose ends untied for us readers to conjure up events in our heads but rather took it upon herself to close the chapters on each of the characters, regardless of how much painful their individual lives have been. all lives eventually end. we all become something unknown after our death. i'm just happy that our protagonists might not have gotten the usual romantic ending as anyone would expect but i think they had enough love between them for them to suffice till old age. such thoughts were presented by eisei and kojo multiple times during their individual internal monologues throughput the story.

koshun and jusetsu were more than lovers, family and friends, perhaps they were something we are yet to discover, you know.

P. S apparently, ishiha ends up as the winter minister, raven's oracles were from hatan clan after all (how interesting is it not that a raven consort herself, the final one ever taught ishina to read, write and speak who will not continue her legacy more or less) and i'm assuming ayura becomes the ritual coordinator. you can find some easter eggs here. i hope we get more of shirakawa-sensei's works in english. i just really love the way she builds her characters.

( + i would've completed reading the whole series much faster if kali puja & deepavali hasn't fallen inbetween. 2-3 days literally went by because i was busy with festivities responsibilities at the end of october.)

[amerricanartwork]

Current digital art process!

Acting on @shkika 's request because making my redraw for this post actually ended up giving me more confidence in my digital art process! As such, I'm gonna use it as a reference. And if this walkthrough of sorts turns out nice, I might do it again as my process evolves!

I started off with a quick sketch of sorts, trying to focus both on movement and volume, and get the general idea of where each element is located. I edit the image dimensions and placement of things a lot in this phase, as my ideas often tend to change once I actually begin drawing them. In this case, as I got it down, I decided I wanted it to look like some cheesy animal motivational poster, so that influenced where the text was.

From there, I began to clean and sometimes edit the sketch, mainly by thickening the lines to make the shapes more definite, and erasing what wasn't necessary and interfered with other parts. Volume is one of my biggest focuses in my drawings, so I try my best to get the volume of each character at least hinted at with the lines. This is something that will probably remain in my process for a while, as I quite dislike doing separate lineart and like the messy, sketchy feel anyway.

I also wanna mention, in addition to having references and such in other windows, I've recently begun having a second mini window of my current drawing off to the side so I can see what it looks like overall more easily, regardless of how much I zoom in on and flip the main window. It's quite helpful!

For reference, this is what the final sketch looked like:

Then, I went on to add the flat colors. Another tip: I almost always set my sketch layer to "Lumi & Shade" because I think it makes the line colors a lot richer, but since it's based on what colors are underneath, it colors the lines a lot more individually than changing the sketch color as a whole. Here's some comparison to a version without the effect (left):

Then, I add some shading using a (really nice) marker brush. This is honestly one of my favorite parts of the process, just trying to carve out all the volumes, especially since I usually use a pretty blue color for shadows!

Sometimes, I honestly just leave drawings finished at this step, because I adore the sketchy look so much, and because I really don't like the tediousness of more realistic rendering in the painting process; from what I've seen/experienced, it often involves having to basically paint the entire image over again, which I've realized I find REALLY boring (and is also why I clean the sketch instead of making a new lineart layer). As such, one of my hopes is to reach a point where I could almost completely avoid having to clean up the image in a traditional painting method, instead being able to lay down lines and colors so well that they convey nearly all the volume necessary on their own, still have that sketchy appeal, yet also look finished and professional.

Alas, I did do a bit of clean up on this image, but I think it still turned out alright!

Here's the finished drawing! I'll have to practice with this process a bit more to truly solidify it as my digital go-to, but nonetheless, I think this came out adorable! Thanks again shkika for the ask, and thanks to @mintscampi for the sweet prompt! I hope you guys like it!

[kiss-players-rewrite]

Hey girls, Marissa and Atari specifically (sorry Shaoshao), I'm gonna ask this.

What do you think about the Transformers? Like the Autobots and Decepticons? Since you girls have special bonds with them, what do you think of them?

Oh! Oh! Now this is going to be infodump heaven!

Oh no...

I have so many opinions on everyone, especially the Transformers, as I was obsessed with them when I found out they're real and exist alongside us, I was ecstatic! So, when I was still in the EDC but snuck off to have my own fun, I immediately went around and soon met Elita-1, who would, later on, let me meet Optimus for the first time! And man, was it a dream come true!

Marissa-san, you're shouting too much, I fear you're going to pass out from lacking oxygen.

Oh, my bad, Atari, I got too excited. Uh- Anyways, anonymous individual, to give a summary: I have been a massive fan of them ever since I was little (I say that as I'm 19, meaning I'm an adult, so I have an excuse) and still am, though I have a much larger love for Elita-1 since she's like me and I'm like her, so we get along quite well, especially in fusion, no cons, only pros!

Anyway, I'm done now, what about you, Atari?

Oh, um... Well, we already know my attachment towards Starscream and my friendship with him, but I suppose nobody knows the meat of the story, other than that he saved me... To explain, before I met Starscream, I wasn't in a good place, to begin with, I was sent to missions that would risk my life and potentially give me horrific injuries, all to retrieve pieces of a Transformer we don't even know the name of, and every time after, I always come back unscathed but mentally scarred. Every now and then, my only comfort was my friend Kayu-kun, full name Kayu Michikusa, who would come by and hand me some snacks while talking about pleasant things like flowers or animals every time I recovered from a mission or from... *hesitantly speaking* Ringo Chikuma and Amao Hitoshizuku.

So, when I was saved by Starscream, at first I was scared of him because of both his size and his affiliation with the Decepticons, but as he and I continued talking, I realized he and I weren't so different, he was abused by Megatron and some of his peers, much like how I was treated poorly by Amao and Ringo, and after that, we vowed to each other that we shall stand up against our oppressors and become something more than just a human girl or a giant robot...

That we are more than meets the eye. That was our vow.

Silence envelopes the room, Marissa looks at Atari with shock, jaw dropped to the floor. Though not participating, Shaoshao also shares the same expression as Marissa.

Oh- Oh dear, did I speak too much? I'm sorry-

Oh, no, no, you're perfectly fine, Atari, but my goodness, that was a lot to take in! Even if I heard that perhaps who knows how many times, it's still a lot to take in! Congrats on that! *gives Atari a thumbs up*

Marissa, do we really need to congratulate that?

C'mon, Shaoshao, look on the bright side, Atari just opened up about the horrors she experienced in the EDC, we both know how bad it was when we were part of it.

I'm aware, but we are just on the first step of it all, and the EDC is still doing bad shit under some of the public's noses. I can understand where you're getting with it, Mari, but save it for the end.

Man...

Anyway, while Shaoshao-san and Marissa-san are talking over there, even if my chest still feels heavy, I feel light enough to feel happy. Thank you, Anonymous-san, that's very appreciated of you.

[lazodiac]

It's time again to look at Thunder Junction's cards and try and divine where each and every one of these bad boys are from.

Also just a note in case people are curious; since Tumblr has a 30 image limit per post, I'll be doing all of The Big Score at the end, after all the colours and stuff. It's my prerogative and I'll do as I please. If you missed the first part, you can find it here! So without further ado, it is time for...

BLUE

While I don't think EVERY mount is from Thunder Junction Proper... newts ARE a creature that shows up in the west. I was initially thinking this could be for Eldraine, especially given it belongs to an archmage, but... ultimately, I think this is a native to the plane.

Another native, and dare I say this is a CHARISMATIC crab. I love the crystals on its back! I also love the blue cacti nearby it? Those are real by the way!

There aren't many turtle-men in Magic. Three, in fact, before this one; the Lagoon Sage, a Quandrix student, and a Kappa from Kamigawa. The Kappa has a VERY distinct look, the Quandrix is a sea turtle, and the Lagoon Sage is a snapper just like the Thunder-Thief over here... and I'm gonna make a called shot and say this is from Bloomburrow as a result!

Homarid are a Dominaria specialty, so this racist bastard is absolutely from there.

Djinn of this type are only found on Tarkir, so this one is easy. He's taken a break from his dragon-infested plane to relax under a waterfall martial artist style, and that's just kinda fun.

This is a tricky one, since the ability is pretty plane agnostic, and the design doesn't evoke much in it... but her collar DOES have the typical three-fang Dimir tell, and it'd fit both colour and what she's doing, so lets go with Ravnica.

Sadly a cursory Wiki glance tells me only that this guy is from America.

... okay okay, taking this seriously; the wings and the scroll and the steps, the name, all the flavour suggests this is from Amonkhet for me. It could be from elsewhere, but this feels the most "correct" for lack of a better term. I wish cards like this would get flavor text reprints down the line though...

These are some home-grown ghosts, and we know from various other stories (Gideon, Elspeth, etc) that when you die you go to the afterlife of the plane you're on... so these are some newly "born" natives.

These unfortunate individuals are from the dead plane of Oregon.

... what? I already used that joke? Okay fine. There really isn't any actual signifiers here, and the only humanoid in the art is too indistinct to tell. Given the content of the card is trying and failing to ford one of Thunder Junction's mighty rivers, I'm calling this card "native to the plane" for lack of anything else appropriate.

Oh hey it's everyone's favorite running gag from Ravnica. Fblthp is an easy one, so instead of elaborating more on our mono-eyed friend instead I'll bring up a question I want any of you reading this to answer.

Didn't they say during the initial preview teasers that there was an important plot event happening in the background of this card? That never bore fruit and I can't remember the exact preview stream I heard it, but I swear I did. I want someone to confirm this for me. I'm abusing my power.

Regrettably, the flavor text makes this spell be sourced from Oko's Home Plane. I do love this weird tumbleweed creature though!

God I hate Oko he's such a scum bag (derogatory).

A personal favorite character of mine, Geralf is an Innistradi born and raised, here to investigate the Thunder of the plane- as well as test how mana bonds work for planebound folk now that they have access to planar travel. Good luck, sir.

An obvious native of the plane. I quite like the flavor of this card as well by the way, it's just a clever way to incorporate the geysers you would occasionally see in the old west.

Another Thunder Junction native! It's wild how many of these there actually are, but wild animals do make up a bulk of cards in Magic so it's not THAT unreasonable.

Fun lore tidbit; allegedly the Thunder only started after the Omenpaths opened up. No one has lived here before that so no one can confirm that is true, and this flavor text suggests otherwise.

One of the only cards showcasing the least important members of Oko's gang of ruffians! Kaervek and Satoru busting out of jail thanks to the help of Annie Flash. The framing of the card makes it feel more like Kaervek's doing the real world (valid, Satoru is a loser this entire story) so I'm gonna call it for Zhalfir here- and yes even though technically everyone from Zhalfir is from Dominaria, it's a plane all its own now. I make the rules here!

The Fomorian made star-key to open up their vault on Thunder Junction, I feel like it is safe to say this was made here. It's got little arcs of Thunder and even looks like a deputy star, so it fits the vibe.

Fun fact; being a six pointed star, plus the fact that in the story they mentioned the sixth slot started glowing purple, I briefly had the idea that they might be implying the Fomorian's know of Purple magic and we'll get it in the big Space set we're getting down the line. Then I remembered Cosmium is purple and a major energy source for the Fomorion people, so nevermind.

I can't confidently say this is from Bloomburrow, given we don't know how big the people of that plane can get- so far they've maxed out at Badger and Fox- but I really don't know where this guy could be from otherwise! Maybe Ravnica? So lets call this Bloomburrow until corrected otherwise.

Incidentally this is one of my favorite pieces of art in the set. Love this fucking guy.

Beyond all the art signifiers, I believe it was straight up said on twitter this is a Therosian Sphinx, so she's from Theros. Good for her. Why is she wearing spurs...?

I'm fairly confident this is meant to depict Stella Lee, and she's from the Atiin people, so that's where this is from! Rundo meanwhile sounds like a Ravnica, but that's just some trivia.

This one I'm not fully sure on. The little bird like flecks of white in his magic, the watery energy... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't quite place it. The red and blue suggests Izzet but then he's a Slickshot, the red-blue faction on Thunder Junction. I'm gonna go with my gut and say Ravnica, though.

Shit like this is why I wish we'd gotten a planeswalker guide...

Blue, so far, has some of the most easy and obvious ones to place, and for this I'm thankfully. This guy is a Stitcher, so he's from Innistrad. Easy as.

She's got some of the Sterling Company aesthetic going on, but I'm a stickler for stupid jokes so I'm gonna say she's from Zendikar. The armor could evoke Sea Gate, and they've always been good with ropes so why NOT translate that to combat?

Like with the earlier ghosts, dead-then-revived means you're native to Thunder Junction... but also this guy is clearly an Obscura from New Capenna, using some of his old magic, so I'mma call it for the big city here.

Oko's big bad gang preparing for the heist of the life-time. Since it's Oko's big idea it's from Oko's stupid plan.

The sort of misty blasts of fire and ice we're seeing here is aesthetically similar to the "gunfire" magic of New Capenna. I love this guy by the way.

Hey wait a second Ashiok can't do stuff like this. They can only read nightmares, not minds!

YEah for those of you who don't know, the Ashiok in this set is actually Jace in disguise! So this is from home-grown celtic Vryn mind-shredding. Our hero(?) ladies and gentlehommes.

An actual Sterling Company goon, though at least this one has a funny joke to his card. I still really like the work they did in making sure every weapon used in the set has the needed arcing loop for Thunder to channel through it.

Oh right the reason why we're here. I'm gonna say New Capenna again, because there's basically no defining traits here. Also god I just realized he's missing the front brim of his hat and it looks terrible. Graywater pay your men properly they can't even afford complete hats!

It took me a bit to realize what was happening in this card. The lady in the back is only choosing the final Spree option here, swapping around the Outcaster and the Hellspur's clothing. Rude!

Clothing swap spells seems like a funny prank to pull at magical college, so Arcavios is where this is going.

I think in cases where I just cannot make any reasonable assumptions based on art, I should look at mechanics. Flashback is usually in Innistrad... but this lady's neckline is WAY too exposed for that Even accounting for the new plane... honestly I give up, the only real identifying factor here is her little lockpick device, which... kinda looks Kamigawan? Lets go with that.

The vibe, the way she wears her hat, and the little phone cord(?) on her belt makes me think of New Capenna. Look some of these are really difficult and I gotta go by vibes!

And that's the 30 card limit, give me a half second for part two!

[ihni]

My 2023 in fics

Tagged by @billyharringson, thank you, this was a lot of fun!

January: Hot and Cold (or How To Serve Revenge) - a fic I wrote in January (but posted in February, schhhh). Got challenged by @callieb to write hurt/no comfort, and I have it on good authority that I succeeded ... (it has spawned no less than two fix-its and one more continuation by other people so far, which I am awfully pleased about actually)

February: Again and again and again and again, a time loop fic that I love, and would like to read like 80K about. ... yes, read. I don't have time to write more on it now. But I had so much fun writing this, and it is one of my favorite kinds of fics; a short one with potential.

March: March was busy. There was Billy's Birthday Bonanza, and also I wrote for the Billy Hargrove Bingo. I posted a lot of fics then, most of them short. So I'm gonna link two, because I can (and no one told me any rules for this tagging game); Boys, Beards and Best Friends, because it was so much fun writing Billy and Heather being BFFs and also the boys being set up, and then Over the edge, which is one of my favorites, because it was so goddamn fun to write! (Murder mystery prank going wrong, muahahaaa! Don't worry though, no one dies for real.)

April: A piece of meaning on your skin, a little fic I wrote for the Harringrove Flip Reverse It event, about the boys choosing tattoos for each other as a part of a bet. I still think it's cute.

May: I like Flo, okay, and like to incorporate her into fics. In Patience, I wrote about her first impressions of Billy, for the Billy Hargrove Bingo.

June-July: Posted in June, finished posting in July (but written on and off over the course of several years previous ...), Taking Notes is my longest fanfic yet at about 93K. And, listen, I love it. It's a body swap fic, where the boys swap bodies. And then again. And again. Etc. I am so proud of this one, actually.

August: Posted Pal, which is 17K of Billy befriending a stray demodog. I 100% believe Billy would like animals better than most humans, and this fic is basically him being a bit dumb but also a good friend to Pal, the demodog. And then them going into protective mode for each other. I am soft for this one, still.

September: I'm picking a short one that I first posted on tumblr and then onto AO3; Seagulls. It's ... well, it's sad in a way, in that it takes place when Billy's dying at the mall, but it's also comforting in a way, because he gets to leave all that bullshit behind and is greeted by his mom again.

October: Picking Just another night at Motel 6 on Cornwallis, because Billy deserves to get to tell Karen no, and Karen deserves to be shamed for what she did (yes, in this fic she showed up). It was immensely satisfying to write.

November: I didn't get much posted in November (because NaNo), but I did get chapter 3 of Finding Billy posted (it's a finished fic now, though, don't worry). It's a whumpy fic I had to write after a couple of chats with friends, about Billy being held with the Lab people after the whole Starcourt thing, and then Steve and Max and Hop finding out and getting him out of there. Poor boy's been through a lot in this one - but things are getting better, promise!

December: Started posting Home is where the knitted mittens are, which is my latest fic. No ships, no romance. Just Billy finding out he's a werewolf and having to deal with that in Hawkins, Indiana, without much of a safety net. Listen, I'm weak for werewolf Billy, okay? And I made up some werewolf lore in this one which is a mix of all the things I like. (It was literally a reason for me to get to write something "nesting"-adjacent, without having to go into A/B/O-territory.) Definitely written mostly for myself, and I love it dearly. (Featuring werewolf!Scott Clarke too, because why not right??)

Huh, I never thought I'd had enough to fill a whole year's worth, but look at that! I'm proud of myself for this :)

Tagging @callieb (yes, individual chapters work!), @weird-an and @mikajupiterjonesingtimcurryfeet if you guys wanna do it as well :) (And YOU, reading this, if you wanna do it! Consider yourself tagged if you're reading this and think it looks fun - because it IS)